KYW Regional Affairs Council

“College for the Cost-Conscious”

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By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The cost of higher education has become an increasingly heavy burden. Students are finding different ways to adapt.

(Tamara Draut. Photo provided)

“Taking out debt to get a diploma has become the rule instead of the exception,” says Tamara Draut of the New York-based public policy think tank Demos (right). She contributed to “The Great Cost Shift,” an in-depth report on tuition and debt.

“More and more students are taking on more and more debt, leaving themselves very vulnerable, especially today when we know unemployment is still a problem for young people,” she says. “There’s now one trillion dollars in student loan debt.”

The average borrower owes more than $24,000. But some students are refusing to buy in.

“I was originally planning to go to Temple and/or Cornell,” says 20-year-old Brian Pentz of Levittown, Pa. He was overcome with a severe case of sticker shock when he looked into the price, so he decided to enroll in community college.

“This was better suited,” Pentz says. “I could get a lot more of my courses out of the way, transfer out, and almost halve my costs.”